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Gulp. I nodded, remembered he couldn’t see, and tucked myself into him. He held me tight and murmured, “Don’t worry, lassie. I won’t let you go.”
I should be so lucky.
The moment the dammed water fully escaped its cairn, I heard it. A roar I would have never imagined from water. Liquid swirled around my feet. Up my legs. My hips. My body. A chill gripped as the water submerged my flesh.
And then we were rising fast, too fast! We were bounced about with Yaanik taking the brunt.
The water floated us to the top of the slope and then slammed forward in a tidal wave.
With us as its flotsam.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
Upon gutting the giant spider, a torrent of steaming, putrid guts fell on me. A lot of it. But the worst was the body of the spider collapsed. Buried under all that weight, I couldn’t breathe. I strained and struggled. My fingers thrashed in heated mushy flesh to no avail. My lungs screamed and spots danced before my eyes.
Darkness claimed me.
I woke not squashed by the belly of an arachnid. Rather, the brightness past my lids indicated light.
It took several blinks of my eyes to be able to focus. I lay in an open area, partially in shadow, as the sun rose, peeking over the edges of—
I closed my eyes tight and looked again. Arches of stone rose high enough to cast long shadows. Where was I? A turn of my head showed more arches, a few of them tumbled. Stone chunks littered the massive open space.
A ruin under an open sky? I’d never heard of it. My hands felt heavy on my stomach. The moment I moved them I heard a jingle of metal. My head tilted enough to see the manacles on my wrists, a chain running between them.
Chained!
I pushed up to sit, using both hands on one side of me to give me a push. Once upright, I spread my arms and pulled, hoping it would be a simple thing to snap the chain.
The discomfort at my neck had me hesitating to confirm. Sure enough, a search with my fingers dragged over the collar around my neck. No seam that I could find, just a chain on the only loop.
Chained…
Disbelief had me pushing myself to my feet and then turning to see the spike holding my chain driven into the stone floor. And what a floor. Despite the cracking in the tile, there remained much to admire. Whoever designed the pattern had managed to create a picture. It showcased colored circles linked by golden lines that radiated toward the center of the space and a massive fountain, the edges of it raised stone, the basin long dry and empty of everything but Oriz.
He stood by a hole in the very middle. When his gaze met mine, my stomach sank. If insanity had a look, Oriz wore it. The flash of orange in the depths of his eyes being the crowning touch. I didn’t remember it from our brief visits before, but given how I woke, it didn’t bode well.
Could he be reasoned with? I had to try. “What’s happening? Why do you have me prisoner?” I shook my arms to make noise with the metal links.
“Just a precaution. Wouldn’t want you running off. It’s not safe down here.”
“Not safe?” I snorted. “Ironic coming from the man who kidnapped me. Where are we?”
“Welcome to the First Jewel. The city that sank when the water from the lake that used to surround it evaporated.”
It actually existed. I would have been more excited had I found it with anyone else.
“What do you want? And where’s Daksh?” And why was I wearing the provocative outfit I’d worn the first day I visited the castle? I’d left it behind when I’d packed.
“The King is most likely in a spider nest being slowly digested.”
“No.” I wailed it a little more dramatically than warranted probably because it occurred to me who’d dressed me. Oriz had seen me naked. Possibly touched me.
He smirked at my glare. “You should thank me. I originally planned to use the King for my plan. But then you came along, just as strong in magic, if unschooled. A much easier body to manage.”
Nothing he said made sense. “I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. Which is ironic considering you’ll be the key to starting everything.”
